Tri-Borough London authorities plan £1.1bn ICT services framework

The City of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea are planning to consolidate the provision of some of its ICT services into a framework that could see the tri-borough area and other councils spend up to £1.1 billion over a four year period.

The City of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea are planning to consolidate the provision of some of its ICT services into a framework that could see the tri-borough area and other councils spend up to £1.1 billion over a four year period.

An online tender describes that the authorities are seeking partners to deliver a service desk through an integrated solution that "optimises the user's ability to self-serve data centre services", which will include infrastructure-as-a-service and end-user computing.

The framework has been divided up into three lots - distributed computing, service desk, and data centre services - where only one service provider will be appointed to each service. However, one provider can bid for more than one lot.

"The requirement is for ICT services that are delivered to service level agreements in a consistently efficient and effective manner. The successful service provider will need to support the transition of the relevant participating authorities receiving ICT services under that lot to a set of common processes and it may involve the service provider investing in the service delivery," says the tender.

"The aim is not to provide outsourced technology, but for the successful service provider to demonstrate that the underpinning technology ensures that the Council and other participating authorities receive: streamlined ICT services, improved process efficiency and cost-effectiveness, capacity for self-service where appropriate, improved efficient reporting, identified savings and of course quality of service."

Currently Westminster and the other participating boroughs each use a variety of service providers to supply different parts of their IT services, with some run and managed in-house, and others hosted and managed externally.

The framework will also be available to other boroughs in London including, Wandsworth, Sutton, Ealing, Hackney, Camden, Hounslow, Harrow and Islington. For a full list of the authorities participating, click here.

According to the notice, the services will need to be operational by November 2014 for Westminster City Council and available by October 2016 for Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea.

Suppliers interested in participating in the tender process have until the 3rd May to engage with Westminster City Council.

Computerworld UK contacted the Council for comment on contract but had not received any at time of publication.

It was recently revealed that Westminster City Council is using sensor technology and data analytics that could transform parking congestion in busy areas of the borough.